A Suitable Lie – Michael J. Malone

The Last Word Review

When you pick up a book and within the first few pages you are instantly absorbed into a novel that stops you leaving the house on a Saturday and you don’t leave the book until you have read from cover to cover you know that you have just read one of THE books of the year. A Suitable Lie is that book. A story that is so incredibly powerful and one book that I urge you to read as soon as you can.

Andy has had to bring up his son alone after his wife died during the birth of their child. He is the sort of guy everyone really likes and you will like Andy when you get to know him. He does not believe he will ever find love again and so he takes every day as it comes and brings up Pat alone. You just never know when love will appear, and one day for Andy is happens by chance and meets Anna and he falls head over heels for Anna and the two fall for each other. The perfect couple in fact. Anna really likes his son and things look really happy for them. But there is something just not right here and you feel it burning into your very soul that something is coming. Andy and Anna marry despite some uncertainty from some close family.

The story then hits you like a heavy weight boxers left hook. You are floored by the story that explodes into life starting on the couples wedding night and from this moment be prepared you will not put the book down, so cancel every plan you have made as you will not want to stop reading. As a reviewer I thought I had read everything, stories that have totally broken me and left me in tears but from this moment I have to say I feared not just for Andy but for his son Pat. They both deserve some happiness and sometimes we are guilty of hoping and clinging to an opportunity of happiness that comes our way. So Now I was not just worried for the two but it went far beyond that. Their story was in freefall completely out of control. I was yelling at Andy from inside of me to just get out and quickly. How the guy that we have come to know with so much self-pride and humour just fade away.

This is a story of abuse and the sort of abuse that goes on behind closed doors, the sort of abuse that makes you sick. Disturbing and shocking and at times I was left reeling. I thought I had read everything. I was wrong. How is this story going to end? I was at times shaking with fear and rage. I wanted an ending that saw some light at the end of the darkest tunnel.

There were times I felt uneasy with the issues that A Suitable Lie raises. But this is a gripping novel so superbly written that it really is difficult to leave. This is a psychological thriller that deals with an extremely difficult storyline but you will love the story of that I am sure. It has become one of my top four books of 2016 instantly. It is a not to be missed novel.

I am not going to give away any clues as to the outcome of this story that would be both wrong and disrespectful but I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

Thank you to Karen at Orenda Books for the advanced review copy.

A Suitable Lie by Michael J. Malone is published by Orenda Books and is available through Waterstones, Amazon and all good bookshops.